Regulators and gas dispensing equipment are typically used for bringing a gas from its transport or storage pressure to its service pressure and then dispensing the gas at this service pressure. Not only is it important that such gases be dispensed precisely or that the purity of such gases be accurately preserved, in the case where such gases are considered to be hazardous or toxic to the operator of the system, it is also important that the operator be protected from exposure to such gases. More specifically, in areas such as the manufacture of electronics, photovoltaic solar cells, flat panel display manufacture, LED manufacture, laboratory analysis and the like, materials that are utilized often qualify as hazardous materials since contact with these materials would be considered to be harmful and/or dangerous to the operator of such a system. It is therefore important to be able to provide a safe and effective manner for operators to handle such hazardous materials at either super-atmospheric pressures or sub-atmospheric pressures to minimize the possible dangers to operators.
A number of systems are currently available for the storage and dispensing of hazardous gases at sub-atmospheric pressures but each of these has their own drawbacks. More specifically, there are systems which seek to minimize the hazards by placing the dispensing means inside the gas cylinder. Such systems hold less product and cannot hold liquefied products. In addition, such systems present problems when such cylinders are placed on their side. Other systems exist which utilize adsorbents for the storage of the hazardous gases. However, these systems are also limited in their capacity due to the inclusion of adsorbents, the capacity limitation of the absorbent for the molecule to be adsorbed, desorption due to exposure to temperatures higher than indoor temperatures and issues with purity. Other apparatus include the mechanical means within the pressurized vessel. However, in these apparatus, the mechanical means take up space within the vessel limiting the volume for the gas in an already small vessel (those having a capacity of 2.5 liter volume). In addition, with regard to holding liquefied gases, there is the additional issue of the mechanical means coming into contact with the liquefied gases.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a regulator assembly which minimizes dangerous risks often associated with the storage and dispensing of hazardous materials while at the same time not foregoing storage capacity and ease of dispensing.